Barbara Bako, Abuja.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed a new financing model that could allow Nigerians to invest as little as N10,000 through their mobile phones in specific infrastructure projects across Abuja.
SEC Director-General, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, said the proposed tokenised municipal bond programme would enable the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to mobilise long-term domestic capital for infrastructure while giving ordinary Nigerians an opportunity to participate in projects within the nation’s capital.
Agama made the proposal at the Abuja Business & Investment Summit and Expo (ABIE 2026), where he urged the FCTA to move away from over-reliance on annual budgetary allocations and tap the capital market to finance roads, rail, housing, water and transport projects.
“A budget can only spend what a single year has collected. A bond can spend what 30 years will collect,” Agama said.
He said the FCT could back a long-term infrastructure bond programme with dedicated revenue streams such as ground rents, tenement rates, tolls, parking fees and land use charges.
Agama also identified the more than N400 billion required to complete the abandoned Millennium Tower as an opportunity to demonstrate the model, proposing that the project be placed in a special purpose vehicle and opened to investors through the capital market.
“The question is not whether Nigeria can afford the Millennium Tower. The question is whether we will let ordinary Nigerians own it,” he said.
He further proposed an FCT Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to unlock value from Abuja’s property portfolio and urged Abuja Investments Company Limited to consider listing some of its businesses or establishing a listed infrastructure fund.
According to him, completed income-generating public assets such as terminals, markets, commercial properties and the International Conference Centre could also be concessioned or securitised, with proceeds reinvested in new infrastructure.
Agama said the recently enacted Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 had strengthened the framework for sub-national governments to access the capital market, while improving investor protection and regulation of digital assets.
He disclosed that Nigeria’s capital market had grown to more than N217 trillion in total market capitalisation as of May 2026, comprising about N160.5 trillion in equities and N56.7 trillion in bonds.
He assured the FCTA of the SEC’s technical support in structuring and registering capital market instruments for infrastructure financing.
“Money is not scarce; delivery capacity is scarce, and financing follows delivery capacity,” he said.
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